Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Shakin' a Tail Feathah

For those of you who don't know, my husband Matt was on the BYU Ballroom Dance team. He was and is very good at ballroom dancing. What kind of girl in her right mind wouldn't want to take advantage of that? So, after budgeting in some time and money, Matt and I have signed up for ballroom dance lessons!

Some of the things I LOVE about this experience so far:

I'm not good at it yet, so nobody expects anything out of me.

I'm not reporting my practice hours or progress for any kind of grade.

I get to feel sexy and feminine with my husband.

I'm becoming more flexible.

We have a darn good teacher.

In the words of Niecy Nash on her season of Dancing with the Stars, I get to "Shake a Tail Feathah."

My mom even helped me invest in some upper-end dance shoes. I'm not sure that they're what the pros use, but they are very good dance shoes and I love them!

Now...I still need to figure out how to cut the straps and burn the ends so they won't fray. I'm terribly afraid of setting my beautiful shoes on fire.

I'm excited to improve, but also excited that I don't HAVE to be amazing at this. I mean, as a performer, I know what kind of time, money, and energy it takes to become great. And it's just so refreshing that I can approach this without feeling like I absolutely have to commit to that just yet.

And...I don't mean to be cocky at ALL when I say this, but as a hard working, constantly-improving performing-musician, I feel like I have learned a lot about how to improve on something that might be innately difficult. Good practice is not supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be difficult. Lots of people don't realize that. And since I know a lot about principles of good, deliberate practice, and I have the help of a wonderful teacher, I feel like I have improved a lot already!

I also think it is so healthy to have a hobby--something that you do just because it makes you happy. I also believe that a hobby should be something that pushes you and you can get better at it, otherwise you'll get bored and burn out. I want to be able to dance with my husband when we go out, and not just step on each other's feet. Another plus: My husband is already really good at it! So he's not like, "I'm a dude. I don't dance." He pushes ME to be better! It's really neat to be working toward something together in a physical sense; something literal and non-abstract. I mean, investments and educational dreams are amazing to have as well, but its so refreshing to be able to polish something beautiful together that you can see and do here and now.